Meteorologists talk about serious changes in climate in Ukraine. Due to the extremely hot summer and dry fall the meteocorridor, favorable for ripening of vegetative mass of plants, grew smaller. Unable to quickly acclimate, plants go through hydrothermal stress each season. Agricultural farms in southern Ukraine sow winter crops in virtually dry soil with the air temperature up to 35 °C in some places. Lack of moisture in the soil does not allow to fully fulfill the plan of sowing campaign on schedule.
The government believes that there is an opportunity to save the harvest. “Before the sowing, seeds undergo treatment with disinfectant drugs of complex fungicidal action. Crimean farmers have enough supplies of those drugs. There are over 74 names of disinfectant drugs in our arsenal, including ‘Yunta-quadro,’ ‘Vitavaks-200,’ ‘Sydoprid,’ ‘Borius-Universal,’ etc. All of these drugs have been imported. There are no drugs that are produced in Ukraine,” said Mykola Poliushkin, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food in Autonomous Republic of the Crimea.
Ukrainian science is ready to react to this challenge. The use of imported fertilizers, according to most farmers, is economically disadvantageous. Given the high cost, which can reach 2,000 hryvnias per hectare, they do not always satisfy the expectations.
Attempts to create Ukrainian counterpart are being made by the National Scientific Center “Oleksii Sokolovsky Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry” part of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine. Not very many of the innovative ideas suggested by its employees come to the stage of testing, and only a few get into production. “Today the agrochemical support in Ukraine is at the level of the 1980s. Instead of introducing the science-based system of soil enrichment, in 70 percent of cases nitrogen fertilizers are being used, which boost the development of vegetative mass to the detriment of the root system. Climate conditions require strict following of the principle – ‘usage of a better fertilizer in optimal dose on time and in the most appropriate manner.’ Mineral fertilizers allow to use the moisture in the soil by 20 to 30 and 50 percent more productively. Unfortunately, Ukraine has lost the system of complex agrochemical service,” said Mykola Miroshnychenko, deputy director of the Oleksii Sokolovsky Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry.
Among the few innovative fertilizers, which can be considered a part of the “old school,” the experts name the invention of Hennadii Mazilnykov, Ph.D. in Biology. A student of the renowned physiologist of plants Ihor Tarchevsky, Mazilnykov developed the mechanism of donor-acceptor bonds in grafted plants.
“In the 1960s Academician Mokronosov made a forecast about the movement of deserts and semideserts 600 km to the north. Therefore, since the 1980s various attempts to find a solution to this problem have been made. First, the main task was to let plants adapt to new weather conditions. After 30 years it became clear that these efforts were justified. Today the climate in central Ukraine is the same as in, let’s say, Kherson, while southern regions are becoming more and more like subtropics. Experiments have shown that we can regulate the development of plant’s cells. First we have to allow the root system absorb the required amount of moisture, and then, on the fourth stage of morphogenesis, boost the phase of fruit bearing. Cell walls become so strong that they will endure any meteostress. They do not burst, the cells do not release carbohydrates, and there are no reasons for fungus growth,” Mazilnykov shared with his observations.
Mazilnykov’s research formed the basis for production of two complex fertilizers with adaptogenic properties –“Biofora” and “Donor.” Both fertilizers have passed tests in Uzbekistan, Tatarstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. “Biofora” and “Donor” facilitate the increase in crop.